Sunday, August 10, 2014

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Elipzis

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, our last selecting from our band links before we started adding defunct and inactive punk bands to our coverage! This month's randomly selected choice is fitting though, as their successor band recently returned to the stage after a lengthy absence (nice to see Rachel healthy and rocking again), so this monthly profiling of a defunct/inactive band from the Sault area ties in well that way! Read on below for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elipzis

Audio/Video: Though only together for around a year or so, Elipzis have a fair amount of material online from their run! The band circulated a six song demo CD at concerts in 2010 featuring their original lineup, and you can hear songs from it on their MySpace page and at this link, but no formal paid albums came out. There's also a handful of videos on YouTube to check out from their run, mostly from Lower Peninsula gigs, including two live television appearances in Southwestern Michigan (such as this acoustic performance), so check YouTube to see Elipzis in action, and here they are playing their song "Six Shots" live on Grand Rapids' NBC affiliate (preceded by an interview with singer Rachel Kiger) in the fall of 2010!

Info/Analysis: Making their first public splash by opening for Meat Loaf at July 2010's Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival, Elipzis soon became one of the most prominent local hard rock bands over the following year, playing solo headlining gigs & battles of the bands alike at regional venues (mainly at The Corner Pub), while also playing a number of Lower Peninsula gigs, including opening for the likes of Pop Evil & Adema. After Wally David replaced Bob Helsten on drums, the band played their last shows in early 2011 (including one last Soo date that March), preceding Rachel Kiger & Ryan Harrison's full time move to Muskegon. Elipzis dissolved that summer, and were immediately replaced by RedStone Riot, a similar Muskegon-based band that featured all of Elipzis' last lineup (sans Chris Webster.) While RedStone Riot are carrying Elipzis' torch for sure, the prior band has a similar merit level, with great melodic vocals, strong guitar riffs, and a nice friendly chemistry, which I was lucky enough to see live in Warren at the WRIF Jingle Ball! It'd have been nice to see Elipzis together longer, but follow RedStone Riot for a similar sound!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! With our biggest band selection pool yet to pick from now that we're covering punk bands, what's coming in September in this series? Sault Ontario's next in the queue, and through 100% random selection, we originally picked defunct local cover hard rock cover quartet Glitch next, but as they probably won't have enough information for a full profile, we'll pair them up with a randomly picked Sault Michigan band, that being defunct Absolute successors NoXcape! If Glitch do end up with more info than projected, NoXcape will lead off a joint October profile, so they're coming too regardless. Watch out for our next defunct profile on or around September 10th either way, and stay tuned for more news and notes later today! Thanks everyone!